Very few filmmakers made as much of an impact on comedy as Preston Sturges, whose invaluable contributions to cinema have made him one of the most endearing figures in Hollywood history, with his efforts as both a writer and director setting the foundation for the concept of a comedic auteur and not many artists can…
Tag: film
A Real Pain (2024)
Everything is a matter of perspective – what some may find uncomfortable may be far easier for others to handle, and when it comes to some of life’s most challenging inevitabilities, we all tend to deal with them differently. Pain is something we all experience in some way or another, whether it is physical or…
Little Shop of Horrors (1986)
The greatest works of art normally come from the most unexpected of sources, as evident by the fact that a small-scale horror comedy produced on a shoestring budget by Roger Corman and a few of his friends has become the foundation for perhaps the most offbeat and brilliant musical in the history of the medium….
Pressure Point (1962)
“No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite” These words were written by…
The Front Room (2024)
There is no greater gift than motherhood, for both the parent and children – having someone to care for you and nurture you as you age (whether biological or adopted or simply motherly figures that guide your life) can stand someone in good stead as they make their way through life. However, there is a…
Una (2017)
While it may not be particularly memorable in retrospect, there was a brief moment when many of us believed that Una would become one of the major dramas of the past decade. In terms of the premise, the film was an adaptation of Blackbird, a critically acclaimed stage play by David Harrower, which told the…
Woman of the Hour (2024)
As a species, we are generally fascinated by the concept of criminality – even if we would not personally engage in any malicious acts, and attempt to get by without ever coming across these insidious people, there is something quite enticing about stories of those who cross the moral event horizon and decide to seal…
Strange Voyage (1964)
There is a very particular sub-genre of fiction, which we can refer to as small-town noir or pastoral gothic, and which we often find occurring in a lot of European and American cinema in the years following the end of the Second World War, whereby filmmakers ventured out of the cities and chose to explore…
Bartleby (2001)
While he is mostly known for his towering tome Moby-Dick, which is appropriately considered possibly the greatest American novel ever written, Herman Melville was a much more varied writer and someone who composed several tremendous stories, many of which have gone on to become incredibly influential in their way. One of the more prominent is…
Mother, Couch (2024)
They say home is where the heart is, but domestic despair tends to be carried with you wherever you go, lingering like a spectre ready to emerge at the most inopportune moments. This is a realisation that many who have ever experienced any kind of familial strife, even only marginally, will immediately recognise as an…
The Postmodern Pelican 